Chasing Horse Ghosts-telling Greyhound's story pt. 11 - Historic Track and Goshen, NY

Come with me and have a look around the "Cradle of the Trotter" Historic Track and
Goshen, New York

Marker commemorating Greyhound's record for the mile on the half mile Historic Track in Goshen, NY. He was the first harness horse (of either gait) to negotiate a half mile track in less than two minutes.

August 2023
During my time at the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame in Goshen, NY, I often walked to lunch or elsewhere around the town. I first heard of the town of Goshen, New York when I read Walter Farley's "The Black Stallion's Sulky Colt," part of his famous Black Stallion series. The two books in the series dedicated to harness racing follow the life of the Black Stallion's son, Bonfire--a blood bay trotting colt. 
       In the second book (mentioned above), Bonfire races in the Hambletonian in Goshen, New York--the "Kentucky Derby" of trotters. I remember as a young girl back in 1980-something  imagining that someday I would go to Goshen and see the Hambletonian in person. Of course I had no idea then that the Hambletonian had long ago left Goshen and that the track itself had been defunct for more than a decade at that point. Regardless, like the knowledge of Greyhound, I tucked that piece of Goshen history into my memory box and marked it as "visit someday." 
       If you've been following this blog, you know I wrote about Good Time Park in a previous post (read it HERE). Good Time Park may be gone, but there is a lot of harness racing history remaining in Goshen. 

       Sometimes I surprise myself at what I don't take pictures of. In this case, I have no photo of the entrance to Historic Track. I can only guess that I a) decided I couldn't get a good picture, or b) thought I'd have a chance to get it later. Regardless, I was surprised going through my photos that I don't have an image of the entrance. I do have the above photo. As I recall this marker is located inside the main entrance. The marker below is also somewhere near the main entrance. 

If you look at old photos of Historic, it's easy to pick out the most notable feature which is still present today: the uniquely-domed judges stands:

Like I do anytime I'm visiting an area related to a person (or horse) I'm writing about, I look for the things that were there when my subject was there. At Historic Track, this is not hard to find. Looking at old photos and present day images, you can easily pick out the original buildings still standing. I think the 2023 image below is of the barn Greyhound stayed in during his 1938 visit. Do you?

2023 - this old barn has a low roof line like the barn in the image below. Can't you picture Palin's canopy in front of this barn as seen below?

The half wall is missing in this picture. I can only assume it was partially enclosed later. But I'm still certain this is the barn because of these next pictures (see below).

You'll have to trust that the barn in the first picture is in the same location as the barn in this picture. With that in mind, look at the part of the building circled in this image.

Looks like the same building to me. Isn't research fun?!

In other photos of the barn, I can see there is a much taller structure behind it. I imagine this has been torn down. Or it's possible that the barn seen today is a replacement for the structure there in Greyhound's day. Because of the conflicting images, I can't definitively say the barn is the same. I can say however that the barns are in the same location. This is how research goes. Find a "fact" then find other "facts" to support it (or disprove it). 

Do you see what I mean? Is that larger building part of this barn? Or standing behind it? Some 80+ years later, it's hard to know.

Around Goshen
After walking around Historic for a while, I walked around Goshen. There is an impressive church near the center of town. It can be seen in old aerial photos of Good Time Park. 

This amazing fountain was dedicated in memory of Edward Harriman--I'm guessing the father of E. Roland Harriman, a man who contributed much to the sport of Harness Racing and is responsible for the formation of the U. S. Trotting Association. His history and links to the sport run deep and can hardly be covered here. He is of course mentioned in my book and you can learn a bit more about E. Roland Harriman there. When I first saw the fountain I thought it was dedicated to E. Roland, but the date on the fountain clearly reads 1911. E. Roland Harriman was still alive in Greyhound's era, some twenty-five years later.

Goshen and Historic Track are more than worth a visit, as is the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame. If you can, go in July during the race meet -- I hope to do that next year. But the track, the town, and the museum are open for visiting year round. There is much more to see than I shared here. Please enjoy these additional images from my time at Historic Track:

Next post: Visiting the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame during Hambletonian Week 2025

Other books by Cheryl L. Eriksen (click image for more info):